Perhaps one of the most pressing issues on the Internet is spam. What it is? Summarizing, we can say that spam is unsolicited advertising. That is, electronic mailing of ads that are sent to users without their consent.
What types of spam are there?
To learn how to recognize spam almost immediately, you first need to figure out how it might look. Here are some basic examples of ads that can be sent to your inbox:
- Paid calls. A letter, as a rule, eloquently advertises a particular product or service. The phone number is indicated at the end, by calling on which you supposedly can order it. It would seem, what's the catch? But not so simple. Dialing the specified number, you will hear only a faceless answering machine, and then you will receive a fairly impressive bill for the call.
- Proposals to join the financial pyramid. Such mailings occupy the lion's share of everything that we include in the concept of "spam." What it is, of course, the letter itself does not say directly. At first, you will be described with brilliant prospects (for example, "Earn $ 100,000 in just a month!") Or something like that. And under a plausible pretext (pledge, down payment, etc.), they urge you to send a certain amount of money to the specified address. Of course, you will not wait for fabulous money, or even a return of your funds.
- Suggestions to visit a specific site. Of course, this is also done very veiled. As a rule, spammers create letters that are very similar to personal correspondence. For example, it could be something like: "Hello, friend! Remember me? You and I were at school since the seventh grade, we barely found you :) How are you? Look, I’ve gotten my own site with photos. .. ". The following is a link. Its presence is a prerequisite, because for a spammer it is important that you follow it. Please note that in such letters you will not be called by your name, but replaced by "friend", "cat", "cute", etc. In addition, the first part of your e-mail may be present instead of the name ( what is before the @ symbol). For example, if your email is called "krasnoe_yabloko@****.***", then you may receive an email beginning with "Hello, krasnoe_yabloko! ...".
- Data collection. Under the pretext of a survey or questionnaire, you are prompted to enter your data and send it to a specific address.
- Sending Trojans. This is the most dangerous spam. What it is? Opening such a message, you let in a computer Trojan virus that collects information (passwords, phone numbers, data from personal correspondence, information about the provider), and then sends it to spammers who can use the information received for their own purposes.
Why fight spam?
Now that you have a general idea of what spam messages are, you most likely no longer doubt that you just need to fight them. In addition, it should be noted that users whose computers were included in the spammer network are faced with severe inhibition of the Internet. This is usually due to the fact that mass mailings sort out all the traffic.
How to protect yourself from spam?
Spam protection is a business that must be approached with all responsibility from the very beginning.
Firstly, if you often have to register on different resources, receive activation codes, etc., it is better to create a separate mailbox for this purpose. And the main let it fulfill its original purpose and is used for correspondence with colleagues, customers and friends, as well as for receiving news and advertising, but only what is interesting and necessary for you personally.
You should not leave your email address in various forums and other popular resources. If there is still a need for this, separate the characters with spaces, replace the "@" icon with the words "woof", "dog" or something like that. So there will be a chance that the bot will not put you in a spamming database. However, modern bots are becoming more advanced in this regard. Therefore, a more logical output would be to insert a picture with written e-mail instead of text. It will be a little inconvenient for users to enter your address manually, of course, but you will protect yourself from spam by 100%.
In no case do not respond to spam. What it is that it can bring you, you already know. Now imagine that after you answer (even if you say that their offer does not interest you), the number of spam attacks on your mailbox will increase several times!
Spam filters - a modern and practical solution to the problem
Spam filters are specialized programs that automatically filter out and delete all messages of suspicious content. The anti-spam function is present in most modern anti-virus programs (Dr.Web, Kaspersky Lab, Avast, Avira, AVG, etc.). However, from time to time you will have to look into the Spam folder - sometimes the necessary and important letters get there.